


Travel Delay

by DesertVixen



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: F/M, holiday travel, implied relationship beginning, things change in college
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-22 06:23:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2497790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Travel delays work out now and then....</p>
            </blockquote>





	Travel Delay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mizzmarvel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizzmarvel/gifts).



Mary Anne Spier had come prepared for a long layover, but being prepared didn’t make the delay any less disappointing. She hadn’t realized how much she had been looking forward to being home until the weather delay threatened her chances of getting there on time. The ticket home from her father had been a total surprise, as they had agreed earlier that she wouldn’t come home until Christmas break.

Everyone had been surprised when Mary Anne had decided not to go to school in Conneticut, but had picked a school in Texas – even Mary Anne. She had wanted to stretch herself and do something different. She wasn’t the only one of her old friends who had scattered to attend college – only Claudia had stayed close to home to attend art school – but they would all be home for the Thanksgiving break.

She was enjoying herself. There had been a lot of things she’d had to get used to, but for the most part she was enjoying it all. She had forced herself to get out and volunteer, joining in on things and meeting new people. If she had spent Thanksgiving there, it would have been different, but not horrible.

Now it looked like she might be spending the night before Thanksgiving in the Chicago airport.

“Sam!” She turned, suddenly intensely grateful to see a familiar face, especially after being told her flight might be cancelled.

He gave her a warm hug. “Want some company?”

“I’d love it,” she said as the gate agent started to make an announcement. Thankfully, the flight was only delayed, not cancelled.

After standing in line for the pay phone to let their parents know the flight to Stamford from Chicago was delayed by three hours, Sam and Mary Anne settled into seats at a crowded pizza place. 

They talked. Mary Anne didn’t think she had ever talked to Sam for this long – not when it was just the two of them, instead of the usual crowd of Thomases - and she found herself laughing at his stories. She even told a few stories of her own. The talk gradually shifted from what they had been doing at college to sharing older memories and laughing about middle school and high school.  


They had lived next to each other for a long time, and even after they had moved away, he had still been a part of her life. He was her best friend’s older brother, and he had been one of the best-known guys at Stoneybrook High. It had never been hard to see why girls liked handsome, athletic, funny Sam, but Mary Anne had never been drawn to him that way. Partly because her friend Stacey had dated him, partly because Kristy was practically her sister, mostly because she tended to shy away from awkwardness, Mary Anne had never entertained anything more than a stray daydream where Sam was concerned.

Here it was different. The two of them were alone in the midst of a horde of strangers. She was thoroughly enjoying herself, and she didn’t feel any awkwardness at all. She was actually a little sad when their plane was called.

Sam offered to go call his parents and let them know that the two of them were on their way. Mary Anne joined the crowd of people gathering around the gate. It was going to be seriously late when they got to Stamford, she realized, but they would get there in time.

Mary Anne settled into her seat, and dug out her book. The worst part of the plane was waiting to find out who would be sitting next to her. After a few minutes, she heard a familiar voice.

“This seat taken?” Mary Anne looked up, surprised to see Sam standing there.

She smiled at him. “Not yet.”

Sam slid into the aisle seat after cramming his bag into the overhead compartment, and thought that maybe sometime he would tell her he’d deliberately swapped seats to make sure he got to sit next to her.

Or maybe not.

“So, what plans do you have for the weekend?” Sam asked.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy the story! It's more implied Sam/Mary Anne but it's a viable look at how things might start.


End file.
